Meet the woman who has made wearing corn sack clothing cool

There is something undeniably admirable about an individual who chases passion, pursues a dream and realises it.

Bronkhorstspruit resident Mari Vorster did exactly that, and for the past six years she’s been growing her Meelbroeke business at the pace of knots.

Today, her company employs nearly 30 people and indirectly supports almost 10 times as many people, if value chain estimates are accurate.

Clothing from corn sack

It all stemmed from creating clothing items from the same fabric as old flour and corn sacks.

“We made pants from old flour sacks that I collected over the years. They were all original flour sacks, which were resewn and made beautiful.”

Decades ago, products like Snowflake flour, rice, samp and other grains were not packaged in plastic, but in sacks made of fabric.

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“Every time it’s washed, every time its worn, it becomes softer,” she said.

“It’s almost as if it takes on the shape of your body. It’s super comfy.”

It took Vorster a good amount of time to source the fabric that was originally used to produce these bags, but an exhaustive search yielded rewards.

She now manufactures to the facsimiles of the classics.

Snowflake-branded pants

That is how Vorster’s Snowflake-branded pants had their genesis. She said she went into the business very green “because I knew nothing about materials, patterns, or marketing.”

Idea in hand, she called a friend.

“I have a good friend who lives locally and has been in the clothing industry for many, many years. I went to her and we designed the pattern.

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“Initially, garments were a bit strange, but eventually, we found a pattern that works perfectly.”

She said she was still learning and the business taught her new things every day.

From photography to fashion

Mom of two, Vorster said before she started the company, photography was her game.

“I used to do wedding shoots. I did photographic work for companies and spent some time in Mozambique where I was a portrait photographer for several schools,” she said.

Before picking up a camera, she was mom. And while she didn’t lock away her snapping permanently, the bug bit to create Meelbroeke.

The Snowflake-branded pants were a near instant hit.

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What followed was an entire range of shorts, dungarees, dresses, men’s boxers and even kids’ clothes. Vorster recently added Sasko Self-Raising Flour to her range after humorous requests from clients who wanted boxer shorts bearing that slogan.

She’s also created another range celebrating a defunct samp brand and a mielie meal brand.

“We have also created a bush brand, where we created animal figures out of the words that describe them,” she said.

Meet her at the market

Vorster still sells her wares herself at various markets and events, just like she did when she started out.

It’s very important to her, because it’s at the coalface where customer feedback serves as critical anecdotal research.

“It is important to know what the public wants because they are the ones who make you grow,” she said.

Initially, it was tweens and teens who bought her clobber but, as word spread, demand across all ages and demographics blossomed.

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Vorster has also developed a network of almost 28 retailers that now stock her Meelbroeke range across the board.

Inside the factory

The factory where all the sewing takes place is just outside Bronkhorstspruit, Vorster’s depot and head office, a house across the road from where she lives.

Here, every room is filled floor to roof in garments waiting to be shipped.

In fact, she said, her home has also become part-warehouse these days, as space to keep all the various ranges seems to have started running out.

“We process around 10 000m of fabric in the factory at a time, but we just cannot keep up with demand,” said a pleased Vorster.

A safe space for everyone

She added that her entire range was proudly South African and that a big part of her mission was to be able to create opportunities for others.

On a wall at the depot there is a giant sign curiously listing an employee’s medical allergies.

It’s for a staff member who is both hearing and speaking impaired, and presently on a waiting list for a liver transplant, too.

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The note is critical because in case of an emergency, every other person in her vicinity must be able to inform medics.

“It’s a safe space for her here and that was why I employed her. I saw an ad in the ‘jobs wanted’ section that she posted a while back.

“Meelbroeke is a business for people like her, because we care for and protect one another here.”

“Meelbroeke is not about me, it’s about everyone who works hard every day to make this company a success,” she said.